Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-19
ENGLISH SCHOOLS.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "NATiCNAts
AND PUBLIC, INSTITUTIONS.

Eton. Harrow, Rugby ard westminster
Cost II an English Boys Education.
| Defects and Advantages OF the system.
| In After Life.
The expression, ''public schools" is one
which bears "A totally different meaning
in this country from that which il bears
in America. What we Americans call
} public schools are known here as ma
| tional' or board schools. These are
comparatively a modern institution, ard
( though they do not afford an absolutely
| free education rs they do with you vet
! the charge of them is very small and il is
| about certain that in n few years they
| will cease to make any charge at all.
Free education is one of the cries on
which the Radicals and the democratic
Tories, led by Lord Randolph Churchill,
seem TO be of accord.
But in almost every WAY these ma
tional' schools are as diiIeren' from what
are known among Enclisbmen as public
schools rs IL Is possible for one Kind q.
school TO hc from another. Indeed, the
English public school is one of those
purely natural Grnwths which are peculiar
to this conservative country. and there
is said to he nothing in the least core
spending to il in any ether country in the
world
The names of Eton and Harrow, and
perhaps Rugby and Westminster are
familiar 10 most readers Of English fiction,
and the conventional description of the
young man who has received all the ad-
vantages nf an Elton and Christchurch
education" and is not infrcquentIy an i'll
tolerable prig in consequence is not un-
known. But, probably, most people have
bus very raCue idea of what is the
nature of these ''ScminaricS of soT,nd
learning" rs they are pompou~ly termed
in an old English composition. and of
what sort Of life the boys lead at them.
And yet there is hardly any one ins,itu-
tion Of English life which could be named
that has n greater influence in molding
the character of the upper classes in this
country and in fluenCipg-through them
the course Of the history of the English
people generally than these same public
schools.
To give definition Of a public school
would he as impossible as to give "a def
milton of so many other of the anomalous
and illogical institutions which have arisen
in the course of centuries, apparently of
their own accord, in the British isles But
what is meant by pubvc schools. in com
mon parlance, may be somewhat roughly
explained if We say that there are certain
large boarding schools containing from
800 10 1000 pupils each. at which the cost
of maintaining and educating boy va
ries, including all his expenses, between
something like $500 and $3.50 year.
unless the boy be exceptionally clever in
which case he can largely pay his own
way, and which have received Il share of
favor among the landed and professional
classes Of English society sufficient to
entitle them 10 assume description
which is 50 highly priced as is that Of "A
public school.
The custom Of sending boys away from
their homes, To be hertled with crowd of
other boys for ten months out of the |
twelve, while they are between the ages.
perhaps, OF II and II. and during all that |
time depriring them of the softening effect |
of home and feminine influence, is one
that certainly does not at once comraend |
itself To the thoughtful mind And Vet so |
universal is it among the leisure classes |
and the professional classes and a larcc |
portion of the wealthier commercial classes |
through delicacy, or dislike of parents for |
the system any boy belonging to one of |
those classes has not had the benefit of |
such an education, he feels himself at a |
loss for the want of it pretty frequently |
throughout the course of his life
An education al an university is a dis |
tinct gain 10 a man. but the absence of an |
education at public school is distinct |
loss. Ii is difficult 10 say why this Should |
be so. There are few people who have |
reached Years of discretion who would as |
sert that the education offered by the |
English public schools was even as near |
m approach to an ideal education as the |
same amount of expenditure could afford |
II turns out boys generally quite unable
20 converse in any language bnt their
,wn; boys who think that the most shame
nj act they can he guilty of is any dis
Dlay Of emotion which comes under the
tanning description OF ''had form" bows |
n whom originality and often even genius |
las been as much crushed and suppressed |
Is these godlike qualities can he, and who
aave had their corners all knocked of TO
make them fit-though square originally |
Into the round hole prepared for them |
n school life, and boys too often who es-
eem more highly success in the cricket |
ield than the highest prizes which can he
won in the universities, the law courts or
,arliament.
Thinking Enclishmen in after life may |
,ften be heard to regret that instead Of
pending those six or seven years Of their
ife going through the mill of an English
public school they had not been given a
,ouple of years in France. couple of
ears in Germany, and perhaps a couple
Il years at an American college to finish
lp with. And there can be no doubt that
uch course of treatment would in all
have turned out more bril-
liant and accomplished man than does the
lsual routine education. Yet SO conserv-
tive, and we may say unreasonable. a
hing is life in England, that We believe
hat the man who in his boyhood had been
,iven such an education rs has been out
ined above would, il his lot in after DAYS
lad been cast in England. be found fire.
Iuently reCretting that he had not the as
ociations, the friendships and the moral
Qualities which his friends around him
lad derived from their school days at
.ton, at Harrow, or at Rugby.-San
Francisco Chronicle.